G. True Nelson: Former Deputy Sheriff, Military Officer, FBI Special Agent, and Security Consultant / Private Investigator. He currently resides in the Portland, Oregon Metro area. He is a writer on crime and judicial process; as well as discussing his personal observations on American culture and social mores.

RETURN

Monday, June 30, 2014

I watched the interview of Bill Ayers by Megyn Kelly. It was on at 6:00PM on the West Coast (The
Kelly File, Fox network). I thought she
did a very good job and seemed well-prepared.
The second half of the interview is on tomorrow.

Bill Ayers is, of course, very adept at justifying his
political and social beliefs. After all,
he’s been doing it for the last forty years.
I think he must be feeling that he is nearing the end of the road, as
many of us do, and that he needs to put a shine on his legacy – hence the books
and the interviews.

As a former FBI Agent who was in the 70’s assigned to the
Weatherman Squad in San Francisco, it aggravates me that he is able to have
this public forum to continue his self-promoting lies – lies that he has
repeatedly told and polished for decades.
More importantly, I think Kelly’s interview, although she certainly
tried, will not have altered a single person’s point-of-view. That is pretty clear to me based on the people
that I know.

For those in the military and law enforcement that Ayers has oft-maligned, and for those the Weatherman harmed, I’m sorry; but it’s
time for us to realize that no one really cares anymore. And, when the final chapter is written, we
will be forgotten and Bill Ayers will live on – a hero to some and a great
intellect to others. Such is life.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

I believe that the final
disposition, for Darrion Holiwell, and the other departmental personnel
involved, will be relatively minor.
Why? Because the Sheriff will try
to minimize the severity of the issue to protect the department and his own
reputation as an administrator. The King
County Sheriff, John Urquhart, should be, I suppose, offered some slack in that
he has been the Sheriff for less than one year.
But, he has been a member of said Sheriff’s Office for decades. That he had no knowledge of Holiwell’s dubious
behavior over the last many years, is really hard to accept.

When I was in corporate security for a major company, I
investigated an embezzlement which occurred at one of our facilities. The Purchasing Agent was responsible for the
theft – and the inquiry reflected that no one else, with the company, was
involved or had knowledge of the theft.
I remember the subsequent telephone conference call with the CEO of our company. I sat in an office with the Mill Manager, and
listened to the CEO’s directives. He
said he had read my report and thought about it. As a result, the Purchasing Agent was to be
terminated and I was to coordinate my findings with local law enforcement to
ascertain whether or not prosecution was indicated. We all agreed. Secondly, the CEO directed that the Mill’s Controller
/ Accountant be terminated. I attempted
to interject that there was no indication whatsoever that the Accountant was
aware of the misappropriation. However,
the CEO cut me off. ‘Mr. Nelson,’ he
said, ‘it doesn’t matter to me whether or not the accountant was aware of the
theft. It was his job to be aware. He was the supervisor. He is to be terminated.’ I saw the look on the Mill Manager’s face. He was thinking that he might be next. That did not occur – at least at that particular
moment. And, would have been, of course,
something the CEO probably wouldn’t have done in my presence.

My question here is who was supervising Holiwell? How many others were involved or knew what
was going on, but did nothing? These
factors will be exposed in court in excruciating detail in any subsequent
trial. Therefore, a trial of Holiwell is
one of the last things the Sheriff wants to see.

I think Holiwell will be fired or more likely resign. He may be asked to make some sort of
restitution. If there is a conviction,
it will be for a misdemeanor. I think
Holiwell will not serve any serious jail time.
The Sheriff will make some meaningless personnel reassignments within
the department (a smoke screen). The
issue will drag-on for a period of time until the public generally loses
interest. The smoke will clear. Business as usual.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

We see this sort of thing happen too
often. Another corrupt cop, Darrion
Holiwell, age 49, a deputy with King County in Washington (Seattle) has been
charged with a major theft from his employer, using and distributing illegal
drugs (to include steroids), and promoting a prostitution business involving his wife. Holiwell is currently being held in the King
County Jail with bail set at $150,000.

In the grand scheme of criminal endeavors,
Holiwell’s alleged crimes aren’t that big of a deal.
Crime-wise, his offenses are undistinguished. He is in the same league as countless other
two-bit criminals. Nonetheless, he
portends to be a police officer; and he has betrayed the public trust. If convicted, he deserves to be made an
example and should receive the commensurate punishment; a punishment, so to
speak, on steroids.

Holiwell has apparently been involved in thefts
and other crimes for quite some time.
But, reportedly, this all came as a big surprise to the Sheriff and his
supervisory staff. The cat was let out
of the bag when Holiwell’s wife started talking to one of Holiwell’s previous
wives about her current abuse at the hands of Deputy Holiwell. The prior wife reported that conversation to
someone she knew at the Sheriff’s Office – and an inquiry was belatedly
initiated. As they might say, at that
point, the stuff hit the fan.

This reminded me of a case, years back, when I
was a deputy sheriff. The SO arrested
five or six men for Statutory Rape, later reduced to Contributing to the
Delinquency of a Minor. It involved a
fifteen-year-old girl. I happened to see
the girl in the office on one occasion.
She certainly didn’t look fifteen – somewhat older – but that is,
under law, not particularly relevant.
One of the men arrested was a member of the local police
department. The others were mostly young
men in their late teens or early twenties.

Each of the young men ultimately was convicted and received
probation. The cop, on the other hand,
upon conviction, was sentenced to three years in the Oregon State Penitentiary. As I recall the judge lectured the police
officer on ‘trust’ and that law enforcement officers should always be held to a
higher standard or suffer the consequences.
It is an imperative that the public has trust in their law enforcement
personnel. And, in fact, for law
enforcement personnel, it is sometimes not enough to be honest – the public
must also perceive them to be honest, which requires a higher level of personal
conduct.

Most current and former law enforcement
personnel have honored that trust; but many have not. For those criminally inclined cops, the
consequences should be severe, and in the above described instance (for the
police officer) they were.

However, I wanted to make another point;
perhaps, a more important consideration in the King County Sheriff’s Office
investigation.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

One
of the positive aspects of having a blog is that, occasionally, your comments
strike a chord with a reader; and they, in turn, offer their own opinion –
which I always welcome.

Regarding Bowe
Bergdahl, ‘Anonymous’ made the following points:

Point #1: Her husband was a “Marine Scout in Vietnam,”
fought in many battles, came home injured – and he does not agree with my
assessment of what Bergdahl’s final punishment or disposition should be – that it
should be much more severe – and that he considers Berdahl’s acts to be desertion
in time of war, and probably treason. The
former Marine feels that Bergdahl should, at minimum, spend significant time in
prison.

Point #2: Anonymous said that she has a problem with
the trade for Bergdahl; the five for one swap, that she was bothered by trading
five “Muslim Extremists” for Bergdahl.
Although, she seemed to agree that it is a good thing that Bergdahl has
been ‘recovered’ from the Muslim extremists.
Furthermore, she expressed concern that the extremists seemed to have dictated
the circumstances of Bergdahl’s release from captivity.

Anonymous,
I hope I was able to summarize your principal points. For those who wish to read the entire comment
from this lady, they can read it under my earlier post on Bergdahl.

But,
here are my thoughts…

Your
husband is probably right. Perhaps, my
recommendation was a little lenient under the circumstances. Moreover, additional information, aggravating
information, seems to be materializing on almost a daily basis. Now, believe it or not, Hollywood is planning
to make a movie about Bergdahl’s life and adventures. It kind of makes one sick to their stomach; especially in that almost none of the
Hollywood types have ever served in the military and the movie is sure to be a
sympathetic rendition.

OK,
in my initial post on this subject, I attempted to skirt the political aspects
of this case; but they may be becoming increasingly relevant. I swallowed hard when Susan Rice, the President’s
National Security Advisor, described Bergdahl’s military service in Afghanistan
as him having served “with honor and distinction.” Ms. Rice is, in my opinion, little more than
the President’s ‘groupie.’ Yes, I know
she’s smart. But, look at her closely. She is a ‘Stepford’ politician (remember the
motion picture, The Stepford Wives which was based on a novel by Ira
Levin). So, we shouldn’t be shocked by
what Susan Rice has simply been programed to say.

Regarding
the five-for-one trade, that’s no surprise.
Western countries are always on the short-end when it comes to trading
prisoners. Why? Maybe, it’s because we value life more than
they do. Look at the Israelis, they
sometimes trade hundreds of prisoners for the return of one of theirs. In this instance, maybe the Muslim extremists
currently sense American weakness or vulnerability.

Anonymous,
historically speaking, as your husband may recall, President Carter, in 1977, pardoned
hundreds-of-thousands of ‘draft dodgers,’ as well as approximately 1000
military deserters. So, it is very
likely that if there is too much pushback directed at Bergdahl, President Obama
will jump in with a sugar-coated pardon of his own.

For
me, personally, I wish it would just go away.
I would like Bergdahl to return to Hailey, Idaho; and that I’d never
hear about him again. Will he live out
the remainder of his life in disgrace? No, I doubt it. This country swims in apologists who will
continue to rationalize the actions of ‘deserters’ or other serious criminal
offenders. Now there is an increasing political movement to give voting rights back to convicted felons and current prisoners. After all, they have political opinions too
and an inalienable right to participate (attempt at sarcasm).
(Incidentally, this challenge is mostly pushed forward by
Democrats. Surprised? Well, statistics show that criminals, when
not otherwise occupied, predominantly vote Democrat.)

‘Honor
and distinction,’ ‘right and wrong,’ ‘harmful actions should warrant severe consequences,’
are concepts that have already been nearly rationalized out of existence. I’m not sure what the words even mean
anymore. Maybe, they actually mean
nothing? It just depends. Everything is relative and subject to a nuanced
interpretation. Right? Am I as guilty of this as the next guy? Yes, I probably am.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The other day, I was having some minor work done on my
truck. The young mechanic came up to me
and said, “I noticed you’re a vet; and I just want to thank you for your
service.” I should explain that in
Oregon there are many variations of vehicle plates, one of which reflects that
you were a military veteran. I
responded, “Well, thank you, that was many years ago.” I shook his hand.

Driving home, I started thinking about the young man’s
comment. Perhaps the plates indicated
to him and maybe some others that I was searching for, or felt deserving of, a
compliment, a thank you, a pat on the back.
That was not my intention. As I
said before, in Oregon, they have many different license plates for which you
must pay a little extra. The little
extra is generally dedicated to what might be considered a good cause like
veterans’ programs, save the salmon, build more bicycle paths, support a local
college (aka football team), etc. As a
veteran, and I am proud of that fact, I felt I was making a small contribution
to Oregon veterans; although, I’m not exactly sure how that money is allocated. Nonetheless, I thought I’d let others worry
about the salmon.

I was in the military for four years during the Vietnam
era. I spent two years in Southeast
Asia. I suppose there were some
hardships associated with that. I didn’t
see my wife for nearly a year. I didn’t
have an opportunity to see my son until he was six-months-old. But, I wasn’t any hero – that’s for
sure. And, I don’t pretend to be one.

The military was a job.
I’ve always felt the military did me a favor. In my estimation, they changed me for the
better. Does that sound strange? There was, perhaps, a little danger involved,
but that only added to the excitement.
All things considered, the military was a good experience. I was given a lot of responsibility for
personnel and equipment – a degree of responsibility that was never matched in
my later careers. Yes, and that included
being an Agent in the FBI.

I guess what I’m trying to say is if you want to thank a
veteran that’s fine. But, let’s not
forget to thank so many others who may very well be equally deserving: farmers, nurses, emergency personnel,
teachers, mill workers, miners; and even (I might add) the young man who worked
on my truck.

There are, of course, true heroes in the military past and
present. Admittedly, their opinion on
the following should have more credibility than my own. However, here is one veteran’s opinion
regarding Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. I’m glad
he’s coming home.

From what I’ve heard, he
no doubt would be rightfully considered a ‘deserter.’ In times past, he would have been shot or
hanged. But, times are different now.

For the men who searched for and suffered attempting to
recover Bergdahl, one can only say that was their mission, their job. They did it, and for those that survived,
they are better men for it. Their job
was damage control, not ‘rescue’ as has been so often described in the media. Deserters cannot be rescued. Deserters are recovered to prevent further damage
to the overall mission. However, I
understand that this concept may not make a whole lot of sense to non-military
types.

Bergdahl is and was a very troubled individual. He has suffered for his actions. He will continue to suffer the remainder of
his life. He should be given a General
Discharge (not an Honorable Discharge) and allowed to go home. One other thing. He doesn’t deserve, nor would he expect, a
parade or a community celebration when he returns to Idaho. Any community that would organize such a
celebration dishonors all veterans; and, as a community, brings shame upon
their collective-selves.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Four years ago, today, Kyron Horman disappeared without a trace from Skyline Elementary School; a school within the Portland School District.I've written many blog posts on the Kyron disappearance and the resulting search and inquiry. I wish I had something current of significance to offer, but I do not.What apparently we do have is a near perfect crime. Or, more likely, an inept investigation by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, and a County Prosecutor's Office that has been intimidated into inaction by a top-notch criminal defense attorney, Steve Houze. Furthermore, we have had no fortuitously developed breaks in the case - something we can all continue to hope for.Whether or not we will ever see a solution to Kyron's disappearance is becoming increasing doubtful.True Nelson

Three Laws for Effective Gun Control

Here are three potential laws that I would recommend for effective gun control:

1) Convicted felon in possession of a gun: automatic three years in prison - no judicial discretion - no chance for parole.

2) Knowingly selling or furnishing a gun to a convicted felon: automatic three years in prison - no judicial discretion - no chance for parole.

3) Theft of a gun, during the commission of a felony: automatic three years in prison - no judicial discretion - no chance for parole - sentence in addition to any time associated with the attendant felony.